August Crop Artist Trading Coin Swap

Hi all

I thought I would pop on and share with you all this months Artist Trading Coins for the monthly swap we have at Crop Central

This Months theme is Mystical (Fairies, Dragons, Wizards, Unicorns etc)

So here is what I have done

I went for Unicorns this time as I do a fair bit with fairies on so fancied a change, to do these coins I used the following supplies:

2.5 inch circle Die

Distress Inks - Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin

For The Love Of Stamps - Unicorn Dreams

Spectrum Noir Markers

Wink Of Stella - Clear

I can not wait to swap these with the lovely ladies at crop this Saturday  and to see how we have all taken the theme and made it our own and different.

Why not give Artist Trading Coins a go yourself they are a lot of fun and addictive, I can not wait to find out what next months theme is going to be.

Kelly

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Fairyland Wishes Keepsake Box

Hey Hey all

Today I have a new design fairy keepsake box to share with you all, I worked on this piece back in November and thought it is about time I shared it with you all.

So enough blabbering here it is

Now for the individual pictures

This beauty has been made from scratch using a number of different materials, the box it self is made from chipboard all designs parts are done using Distress Inks, Stencils, and Stamps.

I love making these and I am working on a 3rd design and can not wait to show you all that one, This one is available on my Facebook Page to purchase NOW!!.

I am taking part in another market night over on Facebook where you will find some of my fairy notebooks diaries, keepsake boxes and more. You can find the Market Night Here >>>>>>> Mermaid Kisses and Pixie Wishes<<<<<<<<

Kelly

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Fantasy Creatures Card

Hi Crafters

Today I have a challenge entry to share with you all which is for Bloobel Progressive Challenge. This months theme is Fantasy Creatures and here is what I come up with.

For this piece I used the following products:

Bloobel Digi Images - Shy Fairy and Leila Dragon

Distress Inks - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Black Soot, Vintage Photo and Iced Spruce

Ink Blending Tool

Versafine Onyx Black Ink

Spectrum Noir Markers

I hope this piece has inspired you and that you take part in the progressive challenge. You can purchase all of Lisa's fabulous Digi Stamps over on the Bloobel Website. The challenge takes place in the Bloobel Facebook Group.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Teamie Tuesday Home Decor

Hi all

Well that time of the week again where we do our Teamie Tuesday.. This weeks theme is 

Home Decor.

When you hear of Stamps, Ink Pads, Dies most think of Scrapbooking, Card Making, Art Journalling, Mixed Media and so on but today I am showing you, you can use those exact products to make something beautiful for your home.

So here we have my take on this weeks Home Decor theme

To do this beautiful frame I used the following products:

21 x 21 cm Box Frame (8.5 x 8.5 ")

Whisper White Cardstock

Soft Suede Cardstock

Colorful Seasons Stamp Set

Seasonal Layers Thinlits Die Set

Colorful Seasons Bundle

Wood Texture Designer Series Paper

High Tide Stamp Set

Basic Black Archival Ink

Flirty Flamingo Ink

Elegant Eggplant Ink

Rich Razzleberry Ink

Berry Burst Ink

Powder Pink Ink

Peekaboo Peach Ink

Clear Block

Big Shot

Magnetic Platform

Stamping Sponges

Stampin' Trimmer

Tombow Glue

I hope this frame has given you some inspiration to give it a go yourself and see what wonderful home decor projects you can do for your home.

Don't forget when you plave on order on My Store using the Hostess Code R6PMPNUY on an order of £25 excluding shipping to get a gift from me.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Father's Day Card Making Day

Hi Crafters

Well it only dawned on me on Monday that is is Father's Day on Sunday oooppsss, so I had an afternoon of working on two Father's Day cards. 

One for my Dad and one for my Father-In-Law so you can imagine my frustration of not being prepared.  So I thought I would share them both with you all. 

First one I am going to share with you all is the card I made for my Dad

For this card I used the following products:

Whisper White Cardstock

Basic Black Cardstock

Everyday Hero Stamp Set (Retired) 

Elegant Eggplant Ink Pad

Flirty Flamingo Ink Pad

Peekaboo Peach Ink Pad 

Crushed Curry Ink Pad

Tip Top Taupe Ink Pad (Retired)

Tombow Glue

Aqua Painters

Memento Ink 

Stampin Trimmer

Stamping Sponges

Clear Blocks

White Gel Pen

Now for the card I made for the father-in-law

For this shirt and tie card I used the following products:

Urban Underground Designer Series Paper (Retired)

Basic Grey Cardstock 

Crumb Cake Cardstock 

Tombow Glue 

Stampin Trimmer

Corner Punch

Paper Snips

For The Love Of Stamps - Uppercase Alphabet

For the envelope I used:

Envelope Punch Board

Urban Underground Designer Series Paper (Retired)

Is it just me or do you also struggle on making male cards, I always seem to get so stuck on what to do for a male card but will admit I love how these two turned out.

I hope you like what I have done and these cards inspire you with both being very different from each other.

Don't forget any order of £25 minimum excluding shipping that is place on My Store this month can use this Hostess Code R6PMPNUY and get a free gift from sent to you separately. Please do not use the code on an order of £150+ as this amount order will gain you, your very own Stampin' Rewards.

I also have a Loyalty Club so make sure to check that out  

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

NEW FIND!!! Make-Up Brush Soft Blending Background

Hello all

Well today I am sharing with you all a new tip/find to me which some of you may already do and know about.

I found this through a You Tube Video so I can not take credit for this but thought it was a fab tip and a money saver especially if you use stencil brushes and the ink dusters, so I thought I would share with all of you (Videos linked at the end of this post)

Ink blending with a £1 make up brush :O yes you read that right, the brushes I picked up are from Poundland and work brilliantly, If you are in the USA you can pick up an Elf Brush from your Dollar Store.
So chuffed I found this cheap alternative to get a softer look (you can of cause build up the colour in layers to get it darker)

So here is what you need:

Smooth White Card (Or what ever card you use to blend on)

Distress Inks (Or other inks you sue to do bending)

Make Up Brushes (try to get the full face soft brush)

I picked up two of each of the big brushes with handles and two of the small handled both work brilliantly.

Now to put them to practice

You can use any colours you like but for this one I have used Distress Inks in the following colours: Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin.. To get started all you need to do is load your brush up as you would you blending tool, and dab off any excess, Then just brush across your page lightly

Doesn't the soft shades of colour look beautiful and using this brush makes it so easy to blend them.

Here is a closer look at the colours

I ended up making this into something after doing the stages to show you all, so here is what I did 

I have used a Visible Image Stamp called Stay Strong and inked it up with some Versamark, I then stamped the sentiment onto the blended background and used some beautiful Rose Gold Wow Embossing Powder and then heat set it. 

I will be cutting this down and will be framing it along with more of my makes and will be putting them up on my walls.

I hope this inspires you all to give it a go and saves you some money, Just a quick thank you to KWCardDesign and Laurie Willison on You Tube for doing the videos to show how well this tip works.

If you would like to check out their videos here are the links 

KWCardDesigns - Soft Ink Blended Background

Laurie - Make Up Brush Blender

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Visible Image Crafty Afternoon

Hi all

Welcome back to my blog, Today I managed to get some creating done in between taking photograph's for two other blog posts which are to come over next couple of days.

So I thought I would have a Visible Image afternoon, I had two of the stamps sat on my desk for a couple of weeks so I grabbed those and was on my way.

Here is the first of two new makes today 

The sentiment which is one of Visible Image's new stamps gave me the inspiration for this piece, I love how it turned out using the Joseph's Coat Technique. The supplies used for this piece were as follows:

5x7 White Card

Smooth White Matt Card

Distress Inks

Blending Tool

Visible Image Stamp Set - Leave Your Fears (is used to do the border)

Visible Image Stamp Set - Behind Every Mask (Retired)

Visible Image Stamp Set NEW RELEASE - Bold Colour

The next piece came about from experimenting a new technique with some Brusho's and here is the outcome 

The materials used to make this piece were as follows:

Watercolour Card

5x7 Card

Back Card

Brusho's 

Water

Pipetter

Canned Air 

Sequins

Visible Image Stamp Set NEW - Outside The Lines 

Black Watercolour Pencil

White Gel Pen 

I was so pleased with how both of these cards came out and hope they have given you some inspiration.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

I would like to enter the First card into the following challenges

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes With Optional Twist 

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes 

Make My Monday Challenges - Colours Of The Rainbow

QKR Stampede - Anything Goes 

Oh La La Creations Challenge Blog - Embossing